Chapter 27 (Descent)

  I walked near the middle of our single-file line, close enough to Wuying that I could see the slight tremor in her shoulders as she maintained her barrier. Even she—a Blue core woman who moved through the wilderness like she was born to it—was feeling the strain. I felt bad watching everyone else knowing that my own struggles were just for show.

  "We need to rest," Sorina called from behind me, her voice tight but controlled. "It might be too difficult on Kaliah?"

  "No." Ruslan's response was immediate and sharp. He didn't even turn around from his position at the front. "We rest when we reach the medium-density zone. Not before."

  "Ruslan, be reasonable she's just a…"

  "I am being reasonable!" He spun on his heel, and I saw his face for the first time that morning. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscles working beneath his skin. "The longer we stay up here, the more danger we're in. Or have you forgotten about the Titan?"

  The word hung in the air like a curse. None of us had forgotten. That deep, resonant hum that had shaken the crystal grove still echoed in my bones when I thought about it.

  "Of course I haven't forgotten," Sorina said, her usual gentle tone hardening. "But if we push ourselves to exhaustion, we won't be able to defend ourselves when it *does* find us."

  "Then we move faster." Ruslan adjusted the heavy pack on his back—filled with his precious crystals—and turned away from her. "Now stop complaining, if the girl is struggling, carry her."

  I watched Sorina's expression shift from concern to hurt to something colder. She didn't respond, just pressed her lips together and glanced over at me apologetically.

  "I am fine, I promise." I said quickly, holding up my hands to stop her from pitying me. Despite this, she still looked worried before she continued walking.

  Wuying caught my eye and shook her head slightly. *Not your problem,* her look said. But I could feel the tension crackling through our group like static electricity.

  ---

  By midday, even I was struggling.

  The constant drain of maintaining my barrier had depleted my cores more than I'd expected. My large orange core still held steady, but my two yellow cores felt like they were running on fumes. I tried to draw in ambient Arc to replenish them, but the raw energy here was so dense and chaotic that it took twice as much effort to refine it.

  Something had changed. For the past week, the high-density zone had been challenging but manageable. My gift of Infinity had been helping me passively refine the ambient Arc, easing the burden. But now...

  I reached into my pouch, my fingers brushing against the small purple crystal I'd picked up in the grove. The moment I touched it, I felt a pull—a gentle but persistent draw on my energy, like the crystal was drinking from me.

  *That's it.* The realization hit me suddenly. Ever since I'd picked up the crystal, maintaining my barrier had become harder. Whatever this thing was, it was drawing on my cores even now, creating a constant drain that I hadn't noticed until the ambient pressure forced me to pay attention.

  I pulled my hand away from it, and immediately felt the difference. The strain eased, just slightly, but enough to notice.

  What *was* this thing?

  "Kaliah." Milos's deep voice startled me. I'd been so focused on my discovery that I hadn't noticed him fall back to walk beside me. "How are you holding up?"

  I glanced up at him warily. Ever since that morning when he'd tried to bow to me, I'd kept my distance. His massive frame and intense devotion made me uncomfortable in ways I couldn't quite articulate.

  "I'm fine," I said, the lie coming easier in Dijan than it would have in English.

  He studied me for a moment, then reached into his pack and pulled out a small leather pouch. "Here. Dried fruit. It will help with the fatigue."

  I hesitated, but my stomach made the decision for me with a low growl. I accepted the pouch with a quiet "Thank you..." and pulled out a piece of what looked like dried mango. The sweet, concentrated flavor burst across my tongue, and I had to suppress a groan of pleasure.

  "I want to apologize," Milos said as I chewed. "For this morning. I did not mean to frighten you."

  "It's... okay," I managed, though it wasn't really.

  "No, it is not." He shook his head, his expression serious. "Epistar Sorina explained to me that you do not yet understand what it means to be Blessed. I should not have assumed you would welcome my reverence."

  I swallowed the fruit and took a sip from my water canteen. "What does it mean? To be Blessed?"

  Milos's face lit up—not with the manic fervor from before, but with genuine warmth. "It means Ashiram has touched your core directly. Given you a gift beyond what most will ever know. Epistar Sorina has told me of your ability to see the flow of Arc itself. That is..." He paused, searching for the right word. "Profound."

  "But Sorina can see it too," I pointed out. "Is she also Blessed?"

  "All Epistars are Blessed in some way," he explained. "But Epistar Sorina has trained for many years to get to where she is now. You are so young, and yet you can already perceive what is..." He paused, reconsidering. "What is rare to see at your age and with your stage of purity. That is the difference."

  I wasn't sure what to say to that. The confusion in his explanation was clear—he was trying to reconcile my abilities with what he understood about Arc development.

  "I'm just... trying to survive," I said finally.

  Milos's expression softened. "As are we all, little one. As are we all."

  ---

  We made camp that evening in a clearing that Wuying declared "defensible enough." The trees here were smaller than in the high-density zone, and the ambient pressure had eased from crushing to merely oppressive.

  Ruslan immediately set about organizing the crystal samples he'd been carrying, arranging them by color and size with an almost obsessive precision. Zamir watched him for a moment, then approached Wuying.

  "Want to help me set up a perimeter?" he asked, his tone casual but his eyes locked on hers.

  Wuying's lips twitched—not quite a smile, but close. "Someone has to make sure you don't trip over your own feet."

  I watched them head off into the trees together, noting the way Zamir's hand briefly brushed Wuying's back as they walked. The gesture was small, almost imperceptible, but it made something in my chest ache.

  I missed that. The simple comfort of human touch that didn't come with expectations or hidden agendas. I let out a squeal internally in excitement for Wuying. A handsome guy was interested in her, and I felt like I was watching some sort of romance story play out in front of my eyes.

  "Kaliah?" Sorina's voice pulled me from my thoughts. She sat on a fallen log near the center of our camp, patting the space beside her. "How are you feeling?"

  "I'm..." It felt nice to have someone ask me that. I smiled as I tried to search for what I was feeling. I sat down beside her, careful to leave a respectful distance between us. My muscles ached all over. It was damp and humid despite the air still being pretty cold for spring. My feet especially were sore as I had no shoes. My hair was a matted mess. I was dirty and stinky and I had nothing but this very basic long dress like a tunic made from scraps. The best word I could come up with was "Tired."

  Sorina searched my eyes for a moment like a compassionate mother would before reaching out and grabbing my hands.

  "I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through," she said, her voice only coming out as a broken whisper.

  I glanced at Ruslan, but he was completely absorbed in his crystals. Milos was gathering firewood. It was just Sorina and me. Rather than sit here and wallow I wanted to learn more about this gift we shared.

  "It's okay," I said, shaking off any self-pity. "You can see the energy too though?"

  "Y-yeah I can," she said, blinking and pulling back a little as if she were surprised by the subject change. I suppressed a giggle. "And you said earlier that you 'tune' in and out the energy you see... what do you mean by that?"

  I closed my eyes and shifted my perception, letting the colorful world fade into that strange static-filled grayscale. Slowly, I focused on the energy signatures around me—Sorina's blue core pulsed nearby like a calm ocean, while further away I could feel Wuying's fiery presence and Zamir's steadier yellow glow.

  "It's like..." I struggled to find the words. "Like a radio. Everything is... emmm." With no good word in Mahloan for static I just tried scrunching my fingers in a crumbling crackling motion. "Until I focus on something specific. Then it becomes clear."

  "Ooh of course." Sorina's voice lit up like she solved a puzzle. "In the Epistary we call that—" she mimicked my static impression to help make sure I understood—"Fog. What you mean to say is *Ukit*. Like when you make it more clear to see... 'Tune?' is not a Mahloan word."

  Oops, I guess I don't always realize what I'm saying or not saying. "Ukit," I repeated, locking the word in and saving it to my memory.

  "How do you see further?" I asked, opening my eyes and letting the world return to normal.

  "Really sweetie it just comes with time and a higher core level. And it takes practice to maintain it without straining your spirit."

  "I've noticed that," I admitted. "When I hold the vision too long, my core aches."

  "That is normal when you are still learning." She smiled. "For now, practice in short bursts. Your body needs time to adapt."

  She paused, studying me with those kind eyes. "You know, what puzzles me is how you can see the energy so clearly. This specific ability—to see Arc flows with such clarity—it typically only manifests in those with yellow stages or higher. Your core is orange, yes?"

  I nodded, keeping my expression neutral despite the sudden spike of anxiety in my chest.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "Remarkable," she murmured. "Your ability exceeds your stage. This is what makes you so special, Kaliah. Your potential is... extraordinary."

  We sat in comfortable silence for a moment. Then Sorina said quietly, "Would you like to pray with me before dinner?"

  I tensed. "I'm not... I don't really—"

  "It is all right." She patted my knee gently. "The offer stands whenever you are ready. There is no pressure."

  I nodded, relieved. Sorina's approach was so different from Milos's intensity that I found myself actually considering it. Not because I believed in her god, but because she made it feel like a choice rather than an obligation.

  ---

  That night, after a meager dinner of dried meat and foraged nuts, I found myself unable to sleep. The others had settled into their bedrolls around the small fire, but my mind was too active, my cores still thrumming with unprocessed energy.

  I noticed Wuying sitting apart from the group, her back against a tree and her eyes closed. Her breathing was slow and measured, and I could sense—even without activating my gift—that she was doing something with her Arc.

  Curious, I approached quietly and sat down beside her.

  One of her eyes cracked open. "Can't sleep?"

  "Too much energy," I said. "It feels like I drank too much coffee."

  She smiled at that—a real smile, not the professional warrior's mask she usually wore. "Coffee. I miss coffee."

  "You have coffee in Yugen?"

  "We have something similar. Not quite the same, but close enough." She shifted, making room for me to sit more comfortably. "What you're feeling is normal when you spend time in high-density zones. Your spirit absorbs ambient Arc faster than you can process it."

  "Is that what you're doing?" I gestured to her meditative posture. "Processing it?"

  "Cultivating it," she corrected. "In Yugen, we believe our spirits are living entities. Mine is called Yándi—she's a fire spirit. When I cultivate, I'm working with her to refine the raw Arc into something pure and usable."

  I thought about my own cores—the tri-bonded structure that I still didn't fully understand. To me, they were organs, biological structures that processed energy. But I could appreciate the beauty in Wuying's perspective.

  "Do you... talk to her? Like she's a separate person?"

  Wuying tilted her head confused and then giggled a little. "I'm sorry, Dijian isn't a language you're very comfortable with is it?" I tilted my head and pouted a little at her making fun of my Dijan.

  "I'm trying my best!"

  "How is your Yugenese?" she asked me, having switched to the language. I had told her before that I spoke it when we first met.

  "I don't know, are you going to make fun of me speaking this way too?" I said back in her language.

  "Ohhh very good!" She smiled brightly, her eyes pleasantly surprised. "How did you learn?"

  "My master is from Yugen," I responded quietly, a bit annoyed that he came up in the first place.

  "Your... you know what, not my business. Back to what we were talking about." Her expression grew thoughtful. "It is hard to explain to someone who was not raised in the tradition. But yes, I feel her presence. Her warmth. Her... personality, I suppose you could say."

  "That sounds like a religious thing," I said. "Should I be careful before I get indoctrinated?"

  She laughed—a genuine, delighted sound that made my chest feel warm. "Careful, little one. The Epistars already have their eyes on you. You don't need the Cultivators trying to recruit you too."

  "Can you teach me anyway?" I asked.

  Wuying considered this for a moment. "I suppose there is no harm in teaching you the techniques. Whether you believe or not, the methods work." She pulled a small pouch from her belt. "Actually, this is a good opportunity to show you something valuable."

  She reached into the pouch and withdrew a small purple crystal, about the size of my thumb. It pulsed with a gentle light.

  "These crystals—they're more than just pretty rocks that Ruslan is obsessed with," she explained. "They can help you advance your spirit, much like creature cores, but the process is smoother. More... controlled. The energy in crystals is more dense than the energy from creature cores."

  My interest piqued. I reached for my own pouch, feeling for the small crystal I'd picked up in the grove. The moment my fingers touched it, I felt that pull again—stronger now that I was paying attention. It was drawing energy from me, a constant gentle drain that I'd been unconsciously compensating for all day.

  I pulled it out anyway, curious despite my unease.

  It was beautiful. Smaller than Wuying's crystal—only about the size of a battery—but it glowed with a soft purple luminescence that seemed to pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat. Darker, deeper than hers.

  Wuying's eyes widened slightly. "That's probably the darkest purple crystal I've ever seen. You found that in the grove?"

  I nodded. "Is that good?"

  "Good?" She laughed softly. "It's extremely valuable. The darker the purple, the more potent. But they're also the most difficult to use with lower core levels." She held up her purple crystal. "Watch what I do first, then you can try with yours."

  I watched as she closed her eyes and brought the crystal close to her chest. I could sense her spirit—Yándi—reaching out, creating a connection with the crystal. The energy began to flow, smooth and controlled, like water through a well-built channel.

  "Now you try," she said, opening her eyes. "But be careful. Purple energy is very potent. Don't try to take it all at once. Just a little bit at a time."

  I nodded and mimicked her posture, bringing the small purple crystal close to my chest. I closed my eyes and reached for my cores—

  No. My *spirit*. I tried to think of it the way Wuying did, even if I didn't quite believe it.

  I felt the energy in the crystal immediately. It was strong, much stronger than any creature core I'd absorbed. Dense and pure and *powerful*.

  I created a connection, intending to draw just a small amount—

  The energy *erupted*.

  It wasn't a gentle flow. It was a flood, a tsunami, an unstoppable torrent that rushed into me with terrifying force. My gift of Infinity activated without my permission, pulling, *demanding*, consuming everything the crystal had to offer.

  "Kaliah?" Wuying's voice sounded distant, alarmed. "Kaliah, stop! You're taking too much—"

  I couldn't stop. I didn't know how. The energy kept coming, kept flooding into me, and I felt my body beginning to strain under the pressure. It was too much, too dense, too *strong*—

  My vision went white, then purple. I was dimly aware that I was glowing, that brilliant purple light was radiating from my body. The energy wasn't just entering my cores—it was merging with them, with *me*, weaving itself into my very being.

  I felt something else too. Something *alive* in the energy. Not just power, but presence. Consciousness. A will that wasn't my own.

  I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Or maybe it did—I couldn't tell anymore. The world had dissolved into purple light and overwhelming sensation.

  ---

  I was aware of voices around me—panicked, frightened—but they seemed to come from very far away.

  "What's happening to her?!"

  "I don't know! She won't respond!"

  "The energy—it's too dense! We have to stop her!"

  "I can't get close! The pressure—"

  I felt hands try to reach for me, then recoil. The purple light surrounding me had created a barrier, a shell of such intense energy that no one could penetrate it.

  Inside that shell, I was burning.

  Not with heat, but with *power*. The crystal—no, not a crystal, something else, something *living*—was dissolving into me, its essence merging with mine in a way that felt fundamentally different from absorbing creature cores.

  I could feel the energy intertwining within me and I could tell that it was trying to take from me just as I was taking from it. It was alive. It felt like life itself. A living creature condensed into crystalline form, and now it was becoming part of me.

  My smallest core blazed with yellow light, the color deepening, intensifying, taking on a subtle green tint as it expanded. My medium core pulsed, its yellow hue shifting, reaching toward that same green transformation. Even my large orange core was changing, the color lightening toward yellow.

  But that wasn't what terrified me.

  Deep within my smallest core—nestled like a seed in fertile soil—I felt something. A fourth presence. Not a core of my own, but a foreign energy signature, purple and powerful and *hungry*. It pulsed with its own rhythm, drawing energy from me in slow, steady pulls.

  *No, no, no—*

  The panic finally broke through, and I felt my gift of Understanding activate in response to my distress. The world dissolved, and suddenly I was standing in that familiar space—the realm of my core.

  But it had changed.

  The ocean of mirrored glass was still there, stretching endlessly in all directions. But now, in the center, rose an enormous crystal formation. Purple crystals of varying sizes jutted from the surface like a magnificent, alien garden. The largest crystal, in the very center, towered above me—easily three times my height.

  I walked toward it, my footsteps splashing in water that didn't exist, leaving ripples that shouldn't be possible on solid ground.

  As I approached the central crystal, I could see something inside it.

  An embryo.

  My breath caught in my throat. The creature within was small—no larger than my hand—but I could see it clearly through the translucent purple surface. Its form was unlike anything I'd ever encountered.

  Its body was covered in what looked like crystal scales, each one flowing and overlapping like fur made of glass. The scales were black, deepening to purple at the edges, creating a gradient effect that seemed to shimmer even in stillness. Its form was long and angular, built like a cheetah or some other lean predator, but without spots or markings.

  The face made me pause. It was a strange blend of fox and gecko—elongated snout, delicate features, but with an almost regal quality to its structure. Beautiful, in an alien way.

  And the wings. Tucked so close to its body that they were nearly invisible, I could see the faint outline of crystalline wings, folded like a bird's but made of the same glass-like material as its scales.

  I reached out, my hand trembling, and placed it against the crystal's surface.

  Immediately, I was *flooded*.

  Not with a single life, but with *lives*. Plural. Thousands of them, stretching back through time like an ancestral chain.

  I saw the creature's kind—Titans, yes, but not the mindless destroyers that humans feared. I saw them living in the deepest parts of the wilderness, in places where Arc was so dense that reality itself seemed to bend. Some were massive, towering over trees like living mountains. Others were smaller, sleeker, built for speed rather than strength.

  I watched them hunt, not with savage brutality, but with calculated precision. I saw them raise their young in hidden dens, teaching them to navigate the flows of Arc, to use the energy as naturally as breathing.

  I saw them *think*. Plan. Remember.

  These weren't monsters. They were intelligent. Sophisticated. They had their own societies, their own territories, their own *cultures*.

  And I saw how they died.

  Most died of old age, their bodies returning to the Arc from which they'd drawn their power. But others died fighting—not against humans, but against each other. Territorial disputes. Competitions for mates. Defense of young.

  And some—too many—died at human hands.

  But not because they'd attacked first.

  I watched through the ancestral memories as human expeditions pushed deeper into Titan territories. Watched as they harvested crystals, destroyed dens, killed young. Watched as the Titans, patient and reclusive by nature, finally reached their breaking points.

  Every "unprovoked" Titan attack I'd heard stories about—every expedition wiped out, every settlement destroyed—had a reason. A *history*.

  The humans who died had earned their deaths through ignorance and greed.

  The realization was crushing. The world I'd been taught about—where Titans were mindless threats to be avoided or destroyed—was a lie. Or at least, a profound misunderstanding.

  Titans weren't confined to Pleasant Valley either. I saw them across the world—in mountain ranges I didn't recognize, in forests that stretched beyond any map I'd seen, in places where the very air shimmered with concentrated Arc. The world was vast, far vaster than the kingdoms of Osmira, Gratam, Zeffa, and the Eastern nations I'd learned about. There were entire continents I'd never heard of, places where Titans and humans lived in uneasy balance or total separation.

  I felt the embryo's presence more clearly now. Not hostile. Not aggressive. Just... waiting. Growing. It would take years for it to fully develop, even inside my core. But it was there, a part of me now, drawing sustenance from my own energy.

  A familiar bond formed between us. Not like a pet and owner. Not like a summon and master. Something deeper. More fundamental.

  The fear drained from me, replaced by a strange calm. This creature—this Titan embryo—wasn't a threat. It was... me. And I was it.

  I didn't know what that meant yet. Didn't know what would happen when it finally broke free from its crystalline shell, or how it would change me.

  But I knew, with absolute certainty, that I would protect it.

  I pulled my hand away from the crystal and took a step back. The realm of my core was already beginning to fade, reality reasserting itself.

  As the crystalline garden dissolved around me, I felt it—a low resonant hum that filled my soul with a warmth I hadn't felt since I came into this world.

  ---

  I opened my eyes, a smile stretched across my face and tears formed into streams along my cheeks.

  The purple light had faded. The barrier was gone. I was sitting upright in my meditation posture, exactly as I'd been before everything went wrong.

  But I felt different. Stronger. More complete somehow.

  The group was staring at me with expressions ranging from shock to fear to something that looked uncomfortably like awe.

  "Kaliah?" Wuying's voice was carefully controlled, but I could hear the tremor beneath it. "Are you... are you alright?" She spoke in Dijan again.

  I looked down at my hands. They seemed normal. I didn't feel injured or changed on the outside. But inside—

  I checked my cores.

  The growth was extraordinary. Impossible, even, for someone who'd just absorbed a single crystal.

  And there, nestled deep within my smallest core, was the purple signature. The embryo. Still drawing energy, but slowly, carefully. Sustainable.

  I realized everyone was still waiting for an answer.

  "I'm... fine," I said quietly, though my voice sounded strange to my own ears. "I think."

  "FINE?!" Ruslan's voice cracked with hysteria. He'd dropped his crystal samples and was staring at me like I'd just sprouted wings. "You were glowing! Purple light was pouring from your body! What in the name of—"

  "Ruslan." Sorina's voice cut through his panic. She was staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. "Let her breathe."

  Zamir looked between me and Wuying, confused and clearly frightened. "What... what was that? I've never seen anything like that before."

  "Neither have I," Wuying admitted. She was studying me with intense focus, her analytical mind clearly trying to make sense of what had just happened. "Kaliah, what did you do?"

  I looked down at my empty hands. The crystal was gone. Completely absorbed.

  "I don't know," I said honestly. "I just... I tried to take a little bit of energy, like you showed me. But then it all came at once. I couldn't stop it."

  "The entire crystal?" Wuying's eyes widened. "You absorbed the entire purple crystal in one go?"

  I nodded mutely.

  "That should have killed you," she said flatly. "The energy density alone should have killed your spirit."

  "But it didn't," Sorina interjected, her tone thoughtful rather than frightened. She approached me slowly, her gift activating as her eyes took on that blue luminescence. She studied me for a long moment, then gasped softly. "Your core... Kaliah, your core has advanced. Significantly."

  "How significantly?" Zamir asked.

  "She was orange before," Sorina said slowly. "Now she's... high orange now, almost bordering on yellow."

  The group fell silent.

  "Wow that's impressive, but almost underwhelming for consuming such a powerful crystal," Ruslan finally said. "How much of a conversion ratio is that? What happens to the leftover energy? Did it all get absorbed or did some dissipate?" Ruslan started muttering to himself, trying to understand what happened. No matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't ever figure it out—I wasn't going to give him all the pieces to the puzzle.

  "And yet," Sorina said, her eyes still locked on me, "here she is."

  Milos, who had been silent throughout the entire ordeal, finally spoke. His voice was hushed, reverent. "Ashiram's blessing."

  "Don't start," Wuying warned, but her tone lacked its usual sharpness.

  "What else would you call this?" Milos gestured at me. "She's been gifted beyond measure. This is a miracle."

  "This is a problem," Ruslan countered. He'd regained some of his composure, though his hands still shook slightly as he picked up his scattered samples. "If word gets out about this—about what she can do—every kingdom on the continent will want to study her. Or worse."

  "Then we don't tell anyone," Wuying said firmly. She looked at each member of the group in turn. "What happened here stays between us. Agreed?"

  "Agreed," Sorina said immediately.

  "Yes," Zamir added.

  Milos hesitated, then nodded. "As you wish."

  Ruslan was the last to respond. He stared at me for a long moment, something calculating in his gaze that made me deeply uncomfortable.

  "Agreed," he finally said. "For now."

  ---

  I didn't sleep that night.

  Neither did anyone else, it seemed. We all sat around the fire, exhausted but too wired to rest. The group kept stealing glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking.

  I sat between Wuying and Sorina, drawing what comfort I could from their presence. Inside my core, I could feel the embryo's gentle pulse, steady and calm.

  I was seven years old—or twenty-six, depending on how you counted—and apparently I was going to be a parent to a Titan.

  My life was absolutely insane.

  "Kaliah?" Sorina's gentle voice pulled me from my thoughts. "How do you feel? Truly?"

  I considered the question. How did I feel?

  "I really don't know," I answered honestly. This was weird even for me. "Does that make sense?"

  "More than you know," she said softly. She reached over and took my hand, her touch warm and grounding. "Whatever has happened to you, whatever you've become... you're still you, Kaliah. Remember that."

  I squeezed her hand gratefully.

  Across the fire, Wuying caught my eye. She gave me a small nod—not of approval or disapproval, but of acknowledgment. *I see you. I understand.*

  "We should try to get some rest," Wuying said finally. "We still have three days until we reach the valley entrance. And after tonight..." She shook her head. "We all need to recover."

  No one argued.

  As we settled into our bedrolls, I lay awake staring up at the canopy of trees above. Through the gaps in the leaves, I could see glimpses of the purple-tinged moon.

  Then a glimpse of something massive swept across the sky, blotting it out for a moment.

  I sat up, panicked. "There's something here!" I shouted.

  Wuying was the first to get up, her Cell pulsating with blue light.

  "Where?"

  "Up there—it flew across, it was pretty big."

  *Hummmmmmmmm.*

  The resonance again, this time closer and stronger and louder than before. It swept through our bones and the ground, making it feel like the ground wasn't even solid as I dropped to my knees.

  Inside my chest I felt the Titan within me resonate, and a hum ripped out from my core in response.

  Wuying looked at me for a moment with a blank stare before her eyes lit up with a terrified understanding of what she'd just witnessed.

  I was confused and terrified too.

  Whatever was coming, it was coming for me.